# Dentil > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Dentil > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Dentil.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dentil > Source revision: 1354697880 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{short description|Small block used as a repeating ornament in the bedmould of a cornice}} [[Image:DentilsCloseupWestportCTTownHall09302007.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Closeup of dentils, above a [Corinthian order](/source/Corinthian_order) capital, Town Hall, [Westport, Connecticut](/source/Westport%2C_Connecticut), U.S.]] thumb|right|250px|Long view of same A '''dentil''' (from Lat. ''dens'', a tooth{{cite web|last1=Craven|first1=Jackie|title=What Is a Dentil? What Is a Dentil Molding?|url=http://architecture.about.com/od/buildingparts/g/dentil.htm|access-date=11 August 2016|date=March 29, 2016|archive-date=22 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170222020712/http://architecture.about.com/od/buildingparts/g/dentil.htm|url-status=dead}}) is a small block used as a repeating ornament in the [bedmould](/source/bedmould) of a [cornice](/source/cornice_(architecture)).{{EB1911|inline=1|wstitle=Dentil |volume=8 |page=50}} Dentils are found in ancient [Greek](/source/Ancient_Greek_architecture) and [Roman architecture](/source/Ancient_Roman_architecture), and also in later styles such as [Neoclassical](/source/Neoclassical_architecture), [Federal](/source/Federal_architecture), [Georgian Revival](/source/Georgian_Revival), [Greek Revival](/source/Greek_Revival), [Renaissance Revival](/source/Renaissance_Revival), [Second Empire](/source/Second_Empire_architecture), and [Beaux-Arts architecture](/source/Beaux-Arts_architecture).{{cite web|title=Dentil|url=http://www.buffaloah.com/a/DCTNRY/d/dent.html|website=Buffalo as an Architecture Museum|publisher=buffaloah.com|access-date=11 August 2016}} '''Dentillation''' refers to use of a course of dentils. ==History== ===Origin=== The Roman architect [Vitruvius](/source/Vitruvius) (iv. 2) states that the dentil represents the end of a [rafter](/source/rafter) (''asser''). It occurs in its most pronounced form in the [Ionic temples](/source/Ionic_order) of [Asia Minor](/source/Asia_Minor), the [Lycia](/source/Lycia)n tombs, and the porticoes and tombs of [Persia](/source/Persian_Empire), where it clearly represents the reproduction in stone of timber construction. The earliest example is found carved into the rock of the tomb of [Darius](/source/Darius_the_Great), c. 500 BC, reproducing the portico of his palace. Its first employment in [Athens](/source/Athens) is in the cornice of the [caryatid](/source/caryatid) portico of the [Erechtheum](/source/Erechtheum) (480 BC). When subsequently introduced into the bed-mould of the cornice of the [Choragic Monument of Lysicrates](/source/Choragic_Monument_of_Lysicrates) it is much smaller in its dimensions. In the later temples of Ionia, as in the temple of [Priene](/source/Priene), the larger scale of the dentil is still retained. ===Later use=== The dentil was the chief feature employed in the bedmould by the Romans and in the [Italian Renaissance architecture](/source/Italian_Renaissance_architecture). As a general rule, the projection of the dentil is equal to its width, thus appearing square, and the intervals between are half this measure. In some cases, the projecting band has never had the sinkings cut into it to divide up the dentils, as in the [Pantheon](/source/Pantheon%2C_Rome) at Rome, and it is then called a dentil-band. In the porch of the [Studion](/source/Studion) cathedral at [Constantinople](/source/Constantinople), the dentil and the interval between are equal in width, and the interval is splayed back from top to bottom; this is the form it takes in what is known as the Venetian dentil, which was copied from the Byzantine dentil in [Santa Sophia](/source/Hagia_Sophia), Constantinople. There, however, it no longer formed part of a bed-mould: its use at Santa Sophia was to decorate the projecting moulding enclosing the encrusted marbles, and the dentils were cut alternately on both sides of the moulding. The Venetian dentil was also introduced as a label round arches and as a [string course](/source/string_course). ==Gallery== File:L'Isle-Adam (95), église Saint-Martin, nef, entablement des piliers des grandes arcades 2.jpg|Dentilwork with a [frieze](/source/frieze) on a column, in the [Église Saint-Martin de L'Isle-Adam](/source/%C3%89glise_Saint-Martin_de_L'Isle-Adam) from [L'Isle-Adam](/source/L'Isle-Adam%2C_Val-d'Oise) ([Val-d'Oise](/source/Val-d'Oise), [Île-de-France](/source/%C3%8Ele-de-France), France) File:RomaVillaTorloniaCasinoNobileTrabeazione.jpg|Dentils with [egg-and-dart](/source/egg-and-dart) patterns on an [entablature](/source/entablature) at Casino nobile of [Villa Torlonia](/source/Villa_Torlonia%2C_Rome) from Rome File:DETAIL OF INTERIOR CORNICE. - Hotel Lenox, 1100-1116 Southwest Third Street, Portland, Multnomah County, OR HABS ORE,26-PORT,5-18.tif|Interior dentilwork File:Dentils - Cleveland Museum of Art (28426034175).jpg|Dentils on the exterior of the [Cleveland Museum of Art](/source/Cleveland_Museum_of_Art) ([Ohio](/source/Ohio), US) == See also == * [Modillion](/source/Modillion)s – more ornate * [Corbel table](/source/Corbel_table) – more ornate and taller * [Dog-tooth](/source/Dog-tooth) – arch decorations ==References== {{reflist}} == External links == * {{commons category-inline|Dentils}} {{Ornaments}} Category:Architectural elements Category:Columns and entablature --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Dentil](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dentil) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dentil?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.